The Effect of Nursing Competence on Patient-Centered Care among Nurses Caring for Patients with Chronic Disease: The Mediating Effect of Burnout and the Moderating Effect of Nursing Work Environment

Purpose: This study aims to explore the mediating effect of burnout and the moderating effect of nursing work environment in the relationship between nursing competence and patient-centered care among nurses caring for patients with chronic disease. Methods: This study uses a cross-sectional descriptive research design. The participants were 150 nurses at a general hospital. The data were collected from February 10 to May 10, 2020. The questionnaire consisted of measuring tools for general characteristics, patient-centered care, nursing competency, nursing work environment, and burnout. The SPSS/25.0 program was used to analyze the data using descriptive statistics, Pearson ’ s correlation coefficient, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe ́ test, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results: The average score of patient-centered care was found to be 3.75 ± 0.44. Nursing competency had a mean score of 3.64 ± 0.44, nursing work environment of 3.04 ± 0.43, and burnout of 2.91 ± 0.68. Patient-centered care was significantly associated with nursing competency, nursing work environment, and burnout. In the relationship between nursing competency and patient-centered care, burnout had a partial mediating effect. The relationship between nursing competency and patient-centered care showed that nursing work environment had no moderating effect. Conclusion: The results revealed that patient-centered care was performed well if nursing competency was high. It is necessary to lower burnout and increase nursing competency such that patient-centered care can be performed better. In addition, since nursing work environment has a significant effect on nursing competency and patient-centered care, it is necessary to improve nursing work environment to improve nursing competency and patient-centered care